He may have not picked Kentucky to win the Big Dance, but he did call Kentucky Coach John Calipari to congratulate the Wildcats on their 2012 NCAA championship last night. According to a readout of the call released by the White House, the president said "it was a great game to watch" and was impressed by the team's class and dignity.

He also spoke with the Final Four MVP Anthony Davis, who like the president is a native of Chicago. Davis scored only six points but he had 16 rebounds and 6 blocks in last night's 67-59 victory over the University of Kansas.

The president had the UNC Tarheels beating Kentucky in his March Madness brackets. UNC lost to number 2 seed Kansas last weekend. This is the eighth national championship for the University of Kentucky Wildcats.

The Wildcats will make an appearance at the White House some time in the next several months.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - President Obama thoroughly denounced the budget plan favored by House Republicans on Tuesday, calling it "thinly veiled social Darwinism" that will only exacerbate income inequality in America.

The president's address, delivered to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, also marked the first time that he has called out Mitt Romney, his likely challenger, by name.

That passing reference, in which Obama linked the former governor of Massachusetts to the budget written by Rep. Paul Ryan and adopted by his House colleagues, marks an opening volley in a bitter campaign that will stretch until November.

Bill Clinton is teaming up with Obama for a hight dollar fundraiser at the end of this month, CNN's Kevin Bohn reports:

The event will be April 29 at the Virginia home of former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe. This is expected to be the first of three joint Clinton-Obama fundraisers this campaign.

It's the first of three events the two will attend jointly in the coming weeks.

President Obama will take square aim at Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal Tuesday during a midday speech that White House aides have described as a significant effort to counter-argue the GOP's budget plans. During the remarks, to be delivered at a luncheon sponsored by the Associated Press, Obama will call Ryan's plan a "Trojan Horse."

"Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It’s nothing but thinly-veiled Social Darwinism," the president will say, according to advanced remarks released by the White House.

Senior administration officials believe Ryan's budget - which passed the House on a party-line vote but will not clear the Senate - is ripe for attack because all the Republican presidential candidates have embraced it and it calls for significant, and largely unpopular, cuts to entitlement programs like medicare.

President Barack Obama participates in an interview with YouTube and Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Jan. 30, 2012. The interview was held through a Google+ Hangout, making it the first completely virtual interview from the White House.

In what the Obama administration is describing as another step in its attempts to increase the public's access to the White House, the First Lady’s office announced on Tuesday that the Google Art Project will be creating a virtual 360-degree tour of the historic building’s public rooms.

Launched in early 2011, the Google Art Project provides virtual tours of many of the world’s preeminent art museums. As a public museum, a private residence, and the executive office of the President, the White House fills many roles. It will join museums like the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Google's site.

The statement from the First Lady's office announcing the partnership included quotes from a video address featuring Michelle Obama will be posted on the Google Art Project’s White House site. In the remarks, the first lady emphasizes the White House’s role as “the people’s house.”

“Thousands of people have walked these halls and gazed at the artwork,” Mrs. Obama will say in the video. “They’ve examined the portraits of Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy. They’ve imagined the history that’s unfolded here. And now you can do all of that without leaving your home. So go ahead, look around, enjoy the history and the beauty of these rooms. Because after all, this is your house, too.”

The release announcing the new partnership between the White House and Google goes on to explain that “the White House is the only building in the world that is simultaneously the home of a head of state, the executive office of a head of state, and is regularly open to the public for tours.”

1600 on Twitter

No tweets found

About The 1600 Report

Go inside the White House and on the road with CNN's reporters, producers, and photojournalists. 1600 provides you with an ALL ACCESS PASS inside the gates and behind the scenes. CNN's White House team is unmatched in the news we break, the content we generate, and the sheer size of the team. But don't let this be a one-way conversation, send us news tips and feedback!

White House Words

OTR

Category: Thing

Some presidential movements are OTR, or off-the-record, to the public and press until the president's motorcade arrives at the previously undisclosed location.